Electrical system of distribution.



J. W. JEPSON. ELECTRICAL SYSTEM OF DISTRIBUTION.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25, ram.

1 1 60,289. Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIcE.

' JOHN W. JEPSON, OF DEPEW, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB T GOULD COUPLER COMPANY,A

CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

description given below,

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM OF DISTRIBUTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

Application filed July 25, 1914. Serial No. 853,022.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jornv W. JEPsoN, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Depew, Erie county, New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Electrical Systems of Distribution, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in electrical systems ofdistribution, and more articularly to systems in which a generator 18driven at variable speed and adapted to charge a storage battery andsupply a work or translation circuit. Such systems are more particularlyuseful. in the lighting of railway cars, the generator being driven fromthe axle of the car, although the improvements will be found adaptableto other uses.

The main object of the invention is to provide a simple and etficientarrangement by which the generator may be regulated in such a manner asto charge the battery quickly and in a manner most suitable to the needsand long life of the battery, and, when the battery has become charged,to stop the charging thereof by means of an apparatus which is simpleand efficient in construction and operation.

Further objects, features will more clearly appear from the detail takenin connection with the accompanying drawings, which form a part of thisspeclfication.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents diagrammatically a system embodyingmy invention in one form; Fig. 2 is a diagram of a system embodying theinvention in a modified form.

Referring to Fig. 1, 1 represents the main generator, which may bedriven at variable speed, as from the axle of a railway car; 2represents a storage battery adapted to be charged by the generatorthrough the mains 3 and 4; 5 represents a work or translation circuitalso adapted to be connected to be supplied by the generator through themains 5 and 6.

In order that the voltage on the lamps or translation circuit 5 mayremain constant irrespective of voltage changes across the battery, alamp regulator, comprising a carbon pile 7, is placed in series In themain 6 and controlled by a lever 8 operated by a solenoid 9 controlledby a current coil 10 connected across the lamp circuit 5, in

and advantages order to be responsive to the voltage changes thereof.Any increase in voltage on the work circuit causes the solenoid 9 toraise lever 8 and increase the resistance of the pile 7, and thetendency of the voltage on the work circuit. to decrease causes areverse operation, so that the voltage on the work circuit 5 ismaintained substantially constant.

11 represents the shunt field windings of the generator 1, and, placedin series with these windings, is a carbon pile regulator 12 operatedupon by a lever 13 actuated by a solenoid 14 having two controllingcoils, one coil 15 being connected serially between the generator andbattery 2 in the main circuit 4, so that it carries both battery andlamp current, and the other coil 16 being a voltage coil adapted to beconnected across the generator to be responsive to generator voltagechanges.

17 represents a switch adapted to short circuit the coil 15 when closed.The switch 17 is operated by a solenoid 18, the windings of which areconnected across the battery, to be responsive to battery voltagechanges or increases in the voltage of the battery. Any otherarrangement of windings of the solenoid 18 may be used, as long as thesame is made responsive to increases in voltage of the battery, orsothat it will operate when the battery has become substantially charged.One terminal of the coil 16 is connected to one side of the generator 1,while the other terminal is connected to the movable switch member 17.Thus, when the switch 17 is open, coil 16 is opencircuited, and when theswitch 17 is closed, coil 16 is connected across the generator to beresponsive to generator voltage changes.

Connected in the main 3 is a main switch 19, operated by a solenoid 20,having two controlling coils 21 and 22. Coil 21 is a voltage coilconnegted across the generator to be responsive to generator voltagechanges, while the coil 22 is connected in series with main 3.

Assuming that the system is being started up and that the speed of thegenerator is increasing from low to high speed :Vhen the generatorvoltage becomes equal to the battery voltage (the battery being adaptedto supply the lamp circuit when the generator is not running or isrunning at too low a speed), or suflicient to furnish current to the besuch that the lamp circuit, the coil 21 is sufliciently energized toclose the switch 19, thereby connecting the generator with the batteryand lamp circuit. The closing of switch 19 causes coil 22 to beenergized, which acts to aid coil 21 to maintain the switch closed. Whenthe voltage of the generator has risen to such a value, due to increasein speed thereof, that the desired maximum charging current is furnishedto the battery, then any tendency to further increase the chargingcurrent of the battery causes the current coil 15 to operate thesolenoid 14, raise the lever 13, increase the resistance of the pile 12to decrease the current in the fields 11, and thus tend to decrease thevoltage of the generator, so that during further increases in speed, thecurrent passing through the coil 15 or the main circuit 3, 4, ismaintained substantially constant, irrespective of changes in speed.

The action above described may be said to continue until the battery hasbecome substantially charged. When this has occurred, the voltage acrossthe battery will coil 18 will be sufficiently energized to close theswitch 17. This shunts and renders the current coil 15 ineffective onthe solenoid and ineffective in the regulation of the generator, but, atthe same time, renders coil 16 effective in the regulation of thegenerator, coil 16 having been heretofore ineffective by reason of itsbeing open-circuited at the switch 17.

After the closing of the switch 17, the carbon pile rheostat 12 will becontrolled purely by the voltage coil 16, while it had, before theclosing of the switch 17, been controlled urely by the current coil 15.Consequent y, after the voltage coil 16 assumes control, the generatorwill be regulated solely by voltage changes across the generator, sothat the generator voltage will thereafter he maintained constantthroughout changes in speed, should the speed of the generator tend toincrease above the desired value. By proper adjustment and design of theswitch 17, solenoid 18 and coil 16, the voltage at which the generatoris maintained constant by the coil 16 may be less that that at which theswitch 17 closes, so that the voltage maintained after the batte hasbecome charged may be somewhat l es than that at which the finalcharging of the battery takes place.

From the above, it will be seen that two independent controls of thegenerator are provided, one a purely current control, and the other apurely voltage control, these controls shifted from one to the other asdesired, referably when the battery has become su stantially charged;and, although two controls are provided and switching means for chan 'ngfrom one to the other, yet only one car on pile is necessary, as far asthe regulation of the generator is concerned, and only one lever andsolenoid operating said pile.

Referring to the modification shown in Fig. 2, the system there shown issubstantially the same and operates in substantially the same manner asthat shown and described in connection with Fig. 1, with the exceptionthat the current coil 15, instead of being connected in the main 4, isserially connected between the generator and battery by being in seriesin the battery branch. It, therefore, does not carry any of the lampcurrent when the generator is supplying current to the battery andlamps. Also, in order that the voltage at which the generator ismaintained constant after the battery has become charged may be verymaterially decreased from the value of voltage at which the finalcharging of the generator took plate, an auxiliary coil 23 is providedon the solenoid 18, which acts to aid the other voltage windings on saidsolenoid. The coil 23 is placed in series with the winding 16, so thatthe windings 23 are only energized when the switch 17 is closed. Thus,when the switch 17 is closed, its solenoid 18 will enable it to be andremain tightly closed by the additional energization of windings 23,even although the generator voltage be materially decreased below thevalue necessary to initially close the switch 17. Also, in thismodification, a switch 24 is shown, connected to the upper end of theswitch 19, which switch 24 is adapted to short-circuit the current coil15 when the main switch 19 is open and the battery is supplying thelamps, in order to prevent the battery current flowing to the lamps fromgoing through the coil 15 and thus possibly actuating the solenoid 14 insuch a manner as to so increase the resistance of pile 12 as to hinderthe building up of the generator when its speed is again increased.

Although I have described my improvements in great detail and withrespect to certain specific embodiments of the invention, nevertheless Ido not desire to be limited to the details shown and described, exceptas clearly pointed out in the appended claims, since many changes andmodifications may well be made without departing from the spirit andscope of my invention in its broader aspects.

Having fully and clearly described my improvements, what I claim as newand desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An electrical system of distribution sponsive to voltage changes ofthe generator, and means responsive to increases in voltage across thebattery for rendering said current coil inefiective and said voltagecoil efiective in the regulation of the generator voltage when thebattery has reached a predetermined state of charge, a. main switch forautomatically connecting and disconnecting the generator from thebattery, and means for automatically rendering said current coilineffective when said main switch disconnects the generator from thebattery.

2. An electrical system of distribution having, in combination, agenerator, at storage battery connected to be charged thereby, a carbonpile regulating the field strength of the generator, a current coilserially connected in the battery circuit, a voltage coil responsive tovoltage changes of the generator, means co-acting with said coils forvarying the pressure on said carbon pile, and a switch device responsiveto voltage changes across the battery for simultaneously rendering saidcurrent coil ineffective on said means and said voltage coil effectiveon said means, a main switch for automatically connecting anddisconnecting the generator from the battery, and means forautomatically rendering said current coil ineflective when said mainswitch disconnects the generator from the battery.

3. An electrical system of distribution having, in combination, agenerator, a storage battery connected to be charged thereby, means forregulating the generator voltage comprising a coil serially connectedbetween the generator and battery for maintaining constant current insaid coil, and a voltage coil responsive to generator voltage variationsfor maintaining the generator voltage substantially constant, and meansactuated according to the voltage of the battery for rendering thecurrent coil inefl'ective and the voltage coil effective in re latingthe generator voltage, said last-mentioned means being actuated at agreater voltage than that at which said voltage coil maintains thevoltage of the generator.

4. An electrical system of distribution having, in combination, a mainshunt-wound generator driven at variable speed a carbon ut in serieswith the shunt field of the generator for regulating the generatorvoltage, a storage battery and work circuit operatively connected to thegenerator, a solenoid having thereon a controlling current coil seriallyconnected between the generator and battery and a voltage coilresponsive to battery voltage changes to maintain the voltage of thegenerator substantially constant, a lever for varying the pressure onsaid pile controlled by said solenoid, and a voltagecontrolled switchfor simultaneously rendering said voltage coil eilective and renderingsaid current coil inefi'ective on said carbon pile when the battery hasbecome sub stantially charged, said switch being actuated at a greatervoltage than that at which said voltage coil maintains the voltage ofthe generator.

5. An electrical system of distribution having, in combination, agenerator, a storage battery connected to be charged thereby, means forregulating the generator voltage comprising a coil serially connectedbetween the generator and battery for maintaining constant current insaid coil, and a voltage coil responsive to generator voltage variationsfor maintaining the generator voltage substantially constant, and meansactuated according to the voltage of the battery when the battery hasbecome suhstantiall charged for rendering the current coil ine ectve andthe voltage coil effective in regulating the generator vo]tage,saidlast-mentioned means 85 being actuated at a greater voltage than that atwhich said voltage coil maintains the voltage of the generator tomaintain the generator voltage at a value less than that required in thefinal charging of the battery.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN W. JEPSON.

Witnesses:

P. W. ENGLISH, Jos. MURPHY.

It is hereby certified that in letters Patent No. 1,160,289, grantedNovember 16, 1915, upon the application of John W. Jepson, of Depew, NewYork; for an improvement in ElectricalSystems of Distribution, an errorappears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows:Page 2, line 86, for the word plate read place; and that the saidletters Patent ehould be read-with this correction therein that the somemay conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 11th day of January, A. D., 1916.

V J. T. NEWTON,

Acting Commissioner of Patents.

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